WCS Will Seek Bids For Mobile STEM Lab, Food Services Vehicle
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw Community Schools will seek bids for some new vehicles over the next couple months. During the school board’s public work session Tuesday afternoon, Chief Academics Officer David Hoffert told board members that at the Oct. 28 regular meeting, he will ask permission to advertise for bids for a mobile STEM lab bus. Director of Food Services Marci Franks will request permission to advertise for a new transport vehicle for her department. At the Aug. 26 meeting, OrthoWorx Executive Director Brad Bishop announced OrthoWorx was investing $300,000 in a partnership with WCS to further expand science, technology, engineering and math education in the area. WCS committed $185,000 to the partnership to support the school system’s Moving STEM Forward program. The $300,000 OrthoWorx is providing will enable strategic planning in STEM for the corporation, professional teacher development and a mobile STEM learning laboratory that can be employed across the corporation. Hoffert said the mobile STEM lab has been in the works for about two months. A committee of WCS employees representing transportation, technology and curriculum looked at what they wanted and didn’t want in the mobile lab. Ethos in Elkhart showed them what they didn’t want to do in a mobile STEM lab. Head Mechanic John Ryan said the lab will be close to a 40-foot bus and weigh 40,000 to 50,000 pounds. It will run on the same tires as WCS’s regular buses. Randy Polston, board member, asked with a bus that big and the equipment inside it, what was the class size that could fit into it? For the elementary schools, Hoffert said about 30 kids. The monitors inside it will be touch screen, and outside of the bus will be a flap that opens up with a television screen underneath so people outside can see what’s going on inside. Board member Dan Metzger asked if there would be Bluetooth or WiFi inside the bus. Brad Gutwein, technology department network engineer, said the idea is to have a self-sustaining network inside the bus with tablet computers At each table. Hoffert said, “To our knowledge, we will be the first school system to have one, 365 days a year.” Board Vice President Matt Dick asked who was building the bus. Hoffert replied that is why WCS was seeking bids, but there is one local vendor. Other vendors are in Oregon and New York. As for a timeline, Hoffert said he hopes to bring a recommendation back to the board in December and get the process started in January. By the end of April or early May, he said the hope is to roll out the mobile STEM lab for registration, festivals and other events. Then in August, WCS can start using it as a STEM lab for the schools. “This is fantastic,” Polston remarked. In presenting her request, Franks said she wants to replace a 1988 meal transport truck. She wants a vehicle with numerous safety features, specifically for food services, so it would have to be refrigerated. She’s required to do two separate quotes, one for the truck and one for the box itself, she stated. The current truck also has a wood floor, which is more difficult to maintain and clean. She stated her department does have the budget capacity for a new transport vehicle. The board usually doesn’t take any action at the work sessions. However, Tuesday the board did approve a $20,100 pledge over three years to Orthopedics Capital Foundation Inc. Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said the foundation received a $4 million grant from the Lilly Endowment previously and an opportunity to raise another $3.5 million. Every eligible dollar up to $3.5 million the foundation raised by Tuesday will be matched by the endowment. Hintz said Scott did research the issue with the Indiana School Board Association and learned it was legal for the school board to contribute $1 per student based on the student count. Because the foundation has been really great to WCS, Hintz said, his recommendation was for the board to contribute the $20,100 to Orthopedics Capital Foundation Inc. over the next three years, out of the general fund. In another matter, Director of Maintenance Greg Schroeder said his recommendations for snow removal contracts will be presented to the board at its Oct. 28 meeting. He said he did get numbers back from 10 different contractors. The bids were due Monday.
